LAKE STEVENS — A former Monroe prison guard was sentenced to 23 years in prison Monday for fatally shooting his roommate during an argument in 2021.
After a three-week trial in June, a jury found Emmanuel Perez, 47, guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Terrance Moore. Perez’s lawyers argued he acted in self-defense.
The prosecution and the defense argued their case again Wednesday, before Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Karen Moore handed down her decision Monday.
Having no prior criminal history, Perez faced 15 to 23 years in prison under state sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors asked for the high end of that range.
“He chose this employment where he is held to a higher standard in the community, where he is in a position of authority and trust,” deputy prosecutor Jason Slaybaugh said in court Wednesday. “That doesn’t end when he leaves the door at the end of the day.”
Perez is a veteran and a father of four, according to court documents. For 14 years, he worked as a Department of Corrections officer.
His defense attorney, John Chase, recommended just seven years in prison, arguing Perez suffers from mental illness and brain damage from childhood that went untreated because of racial discrimination. On Monday, the judge called the recommendation “clearly too lenient.”
“Obviously in May 2021, he was struggling,” Karen Moore said. “But this is not the classic kind of case where I can truly find his childhood significantly impaired his decision making.”
Terrance Moore and the defendant were close friends who often took care of each other’s children, according to loved ones. Terrance Moore’s young daughters knew Perez as “Uncle Manny,” their mother Courtney Morris said in court.
Around 9 a.m. May 24, 2021, Perez was in the living room with Terrance Moore at the Colonial Gardens apartments in Lake Stevens, according to court documents.
They had been drinking and using drugs for 14 hours before the shooting, court papers said. They smoked meth on the couch together from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Perez did not sleep that night, the defense wrote in court documents.
Chase wrote in court documents that his client talked to Terrance Moore about needing to “clean up their lives.” The conversation turned into an argument. Chase claimed Terrance Moore pushed Perez and grabbed a shotgun from the corner of the room.
Perez reported he tried to wrestle the shotgun away from his roommate, his attorney wrote. Terrance Moore allegedly pulled the trigger, and the blast just missed Perez. Chase wrote that Terrance Moore lunged for the couch, where he kept a handgun. Perez shot the victim nine times, then ran from the apartment, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Prosecutors countered that investigators found no physical evidence Terrance Moore ever had a gun.
Terrance Moore’s loved ones addressed the court Wednesday, pleading for the maximum sentence for Perez.
Originally from Maryland, Terrance Moore had a passion for dance and basketball. He moved to Washington to be closer to his daughters.
“Every single day, I have to hold these girls while they cry because they miss their father,” said Courtney Morris, the mother of Terrance Moore’s children. “They will never trust anything in this world because someone they loved and trusted, Manny, killed their father.”
On Monday, the judge addressed the defendant before sheriff’s deputies took him away in shackles:
“I hope you can find peace, sir.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified the mother of Terrance Moore’s children.
Maya Tizon: 425-339-3434; maya.tizon@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @mayatizon.
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